When I was 15 I was stung by a wasp and had an allergic reaction. It didn't even occur to my mum to phone an ambulance - it took my face swelling up to get her to phone NHS Direct! A few months ago I phoned NHS Direct again for a different problem, and even though I explained that I was sitting in the back of my friend's car, they still insisted on getting me an ambulance. Luckily, the crew phoned me and asked me if I could make my own way (I said yes, of course) but if they had come, that would have been another ambulance off the road for half an hour!